Another reminder that you can learn something almost anyplace, as long as you’re paying attention.
Tonight while at the grocery store I witnessed a great example of this. A gentleman was at one of those new-fangled self checkout booths, and apparently pressed the button to view things in Spanish. The lady attending to the booths noticed this and made a comment on his selection (he didn’t look like Spanish would be his first language).
He said that he liked to keep in practice, and selected the spanish language option when he had a chance to brush up.
The lady at the checkout was impressed, and so was I.
What a great example of doing something that might slightly stretch your comfort zone for whatever reason. Most of us would press the English button, even if we knew some Spanish at one time. This might make things go a little smoother, but it wouldn’t help us to grow or progress in any way.
There are many things that we tend to do because they’re a habit, and easy…
- Checking email frequently.
- Surfing the web endlessly (uh.. “research”).
- Watching TV.
- Going to the same restaurants, stores and supermarkets.
- Reading the same newspapers, blogs, author’s books.
- Learning too much, doing too little.
It’s been said that you should work on your strengths, instead of your weaknesses (farm those out), but this is different. This is about working on habits that are keeping your thinking locked into patterns that are counterproductive. This is about pushing your boundaries so that you can do new things, and succeed in new ways.
So… Do something different. Do something a little challenging. Take the above list, and expand upon it, then reverse the habit and do the opposite.
This is especially important when you have a project you are “working on”, but it’s not something you’ve done before. You know you need to do it. You know that if you don’t, it’ll be just another in a long line of half-done projects. It’s just out of your comfort zone.
All learning requires you to break out of this comfort zone. It doesn’t have to be difficult, and the easier the better. But it will require stretching your mind, and doing some new things.
Keep thinking!
-Tim
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I live in Reno, NV with my wife Careen, and the ever so talented kitty named Milo. Programmer by trade, web surfer and learner for fun, I have a ton of interests, and you'll hear about each of them in time!
Yep, it sure was, thanks for the kind words.
-Tim
Hi Tim and Luke!
Luke: As always, thanks for stopping by and taking time to post. Hope you hit that 10k soon!
Tim: I really enjoyed your blog and the information you provide to those who sign up for updates. Really awesome. Your sense of humor reminds me of my own, and I look forward to releasing myself more and more in this regard! I think this comment was really meant for my post about “My Boring Blog”, but hey it’s all good
Anyone reading, please do yourself a favor and visit the blogs of people who comment. These are participants, not spectators, and you will learn more from a few of them than all the spectators in the world!
Hi Tim;
Yeah, always good advice… When I started working with corporate partners and clients years ago, I realized after awhile that my personality was getting sucked out of me…
When you’re dealing with “the suits” and trying to make a good impression, it’s easy to self-squelch yourself, I had to make a conscious effort to shake it off. Always a good reminder.
Great stuff. I can relate — doing stuff just to stretch out of my comfort zone. Part of the reason I chose a .info domain for my site, and why I publicly set a goal that’s so outrageous — making $10k in a week. I will continue to stretch my boundaries, thanks for the encouraging post Tim. Maybe I’ll start posting in Esperanto!